Sunak's Fine: #2
The Metropolitan Police have issued PM Rishi Sunak a fixed penalty notice after his Party released a video of him in a moving car without a seatbelt. It is against the law to not wear a seatbelt (Highway Code, 99-102). Sunak's fine makes him the second PM in history to be fined in office after Boris Johnson.
There are some that will think this matter is utterly ridiculous, as it is 'only' a seatbelt and not a big deal compared to other issues. However, I think it testifies to the current state of Westminster's standards and how politics has become even more disreputable over time. Sunak is accepting the fine, but there is not enough pressure or expectation for him to resign. This differs from the politicians of twenty years ago, who would know that it was time to resign if they were caught doing something illegal or disreputable.
Sunak's brushing off of the situation normalises a PM being fined and breaking the law; it happened before with Boris Johnson and it is continuing with Sunak. Politics has often had a reputation for its members being 'cunning' and getting away with things, and the reinforcement of this image in the eyes of the public is one of the key reasons for mass political apathy. It makes no sense how the government can continue but no one is shocked or horrified at this type of news anymore.
Westminster is now a place where anything goes, from sexual assault allegations for dozens of MPs, a former Chancellor who cannot file his taxes appropriately, to a PM who has been fined twice for breaking the law. Sunak has said that an ethics inquiry will investigate former Chancellor and current Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi's tax situation, but how can the public trust an inquiry set up by the government? The same type of inquiry that promised to investigate Islamophobia within the Conservative Party? The same type of inquiry that found the UK to have no evidence of institutional racism and an example to other countries?
As someone who wishes to enter politics, I see a very dangerous precedent being set and nothing being done to combat it. Politicians can stay where they are despite what they have done, as long as they have money and power behind them. The next generation, my generation, is viewing Westminster's current politicians and modelling their future careers upon them, weighing up how much they can get away with as the standards drop lower and lower.
Today, we accept a sitting PM being fined twice for breaking the law; tomorrow, we will have to deal with the consequences in the form of the next generation's conduct.
*Header Photo is from Unsplash, taken by photographer Maxim Hopman 
Comments